Castle Among Six Candidates to Seek Constitution Party Nomination

Darrell Castle

Delegates from around the country are currently meeting in Nashville to select the Constitution Party’s nominees for President and Vice-President.   Balloting will occur tomorrow for both spots on the ticket, but nominations in the Presidential race are taking place this afternoon.  From what we have learned from our sources attending the meeting, it appears that six candidates will compete for the to spot on the party’s ticket.

Former Congressman Virgil Goode is widely considered the favorite, but he will have to overcome a late and surprising challenge from 2008 Vice-Presidential nominee Darrell Castle.

Virgil Goode was nominated by party-founder Howard Phillips, who delivered a clear and ringing endorsement of the former Congressman.  Goode’s nomination was then seconded by Chris O’Hare of New York and Robert Owens of Ohio.  Finally, Goode took to the stage himself and delivered a rousing speech, ending with a standing ovation from the audience in attendance.

Also being placed into nomination are frequent candidate Don Grundmann, radio host Laurie Roth, former Savannah State football coach Robby Wells and activist Susan Ducey.

Castle is a Memphis attorney and received 199,880 votes for Vice-President as pastor Chuck Baldwin’s running mate in 2008.

If the delegates choose to nominate the little-known attorney over a former Congressman, it seems likely that the party will struggle to raise enough money to significantly reach out and capture disaffected evangelical Republicans unhappy with their party’s decision to nominate Mitt Romney.

UPDATE: A previous version of this article cited a source that suggested Constitution Party founder Howard Phillips was behind Castle’s decision to enter the race, that article has now been retracted.